Skip to content

But enough about me…

Jim Morin
© Jim Morin

Share

Late Night Political Humor

“Last night, Barack Obama was officially nominated Democratic candidate for President of the United States. And I want to tell you something. I really think things are starting to look bad for Hillary.” -David Letterman

“Former President Bill Clinton spoke at the convention last night. And it was sort of sad when in the middle of Clinton’s speech, John McCain wandered out on stage in his bathrobe.” -David Letterman

“Oh! This is exciting. John McCain now has finally decided on his vice president. Yeah. The only question now is from which house will he make the announcement.” -David Letterman

“And then tonight, Barack Obama speaks to the convention, and they moved it to the stadium there in Denver. They’re getting, like, 75,000 people. And I’m telling you, the construction crew has been working around the clock, painting the stadium, scrubbing the stadium, plastering. It’s the same team that works on Nancy Pelosi.” -David Letterman

“Political experts say that John McCain is going to try to steal attention away from the Democrats tonight by leaking the name of his running mate. Experts say there’s a pretty good chance that McCain will leak something else too.” -Conan O’Brien

“Barack Obama says he’s planning to get his daughters a dog if he’s elected president. Most voters asked think he should get a poodle, proving that Americans are not only ready for a black president, they’re also ready for a gay first dog.” -Conan O’Brien

“Tomorrow — this is a little fun fact for you — both John McCain and Michael Jackson will celebrate their birthday. Yeah, so it will be the birthday of an old white guy and John McCain.” -Conan O’Brien

“Did you see that Mount Olympus-style backdrop they had for Barack’s speech, with the big columns on it? Little over the top, do you think, huh? Like, when they introduced him as ‘Barack, son of Zeus,’ that seemed over the top.” -Jay Leno

“At one point this week, police in Denver had a showdown with over 300 protesters, ended up pepper spraying them. And since, of course, it was Denver and they were Democrats, it was only fresh ground-pepper spray.” -Jay Leno

“Well, according to The New York Post, delegates at the Democratic convention received information packets with three separate warnings not to drink too much, because they say alcohol has a much stronger effect in higher altitudes. I guess they didn’t want anyone getting drunk and accidentally sleeping with John Edwards again.” -Jay Leno

“And John McCain has apparently chosen his vice president. He was going to announce who it was, but then he forgot. Well, there was a rumor that McCain might pick former eBay C.E.O. Meg Whitman as his running mate. That makes sense. You know, she’s an expert at selling Americans really old stuff.” -Jay Leno

“And archaeologists are now saying that based on the latest findings, Neanderthals are a lot smarter than they previously gave them credit for. Today, President Bush asked these same researchers to analyze his Presidency.” -Jay Leno

Share

Abuse of Power?

A few weeks ago, I quoted Alaska Governor Sarah Palin praising Obama’s energy plan. Today, she was named as McCain’s (presumptive) VP choice, and (big surprise) those quotes mysteriously vanished as if she had never uttered them.

I could understand if Palin took them off of her own website, but they were removed from the official Alaska government site. Lucky for us, Google has a cache of the offending page for your viewing enjoyment.

I guess it is not very surprising that Palin would abuse her power for partisan purposes, since she is currently under investigation for trying to get her former state trooper brother-in-law fired because of his messy divorce with Palin’s sister.

McCain should also remember that when you pick someone to be your VP who panders to the evangelical base, you might just get someone who thinks that creationism should be taught in public schools.

Also, see what Karl Rove recently had to say about picking an inexperienced first-term governor and former mayor as VP.

UPDATE: Apparently Palin’s Wikipedia entry has been rewritten as well. They did it Thursday, the day before it was announced that she was the VP nominee, so it was someone either in Palin’s or McCain’s organizations.

Share

Why play the POW card, when you can play the POW game?


From Jared Rea

Share

Busheviks

Kirk Anderson
© Kirk Anderson

Share

Surprising Reactions from Conservatives to Obama’s speech

“It was a genuinely outstanding speech. It was magnificent. It is the finest – and I saw Cuomo’s speech, I saw Kennedy in ’80, I even saw Douglas MacArthur, I saw Martin Luther King – this is the greatest convention speech, and probably the most important because unlike Cuomo and the others this is an acceptance speech. This came out of the heart of America and he went right at the heart of America…” – Pat Buchanan

“Barack Obama faced very high expectations tonight and, honestly, I think he met them and I honestly think he exceeded them. It was a very well-crafted speech.” – Bill Kristol on FOX News

“Whoever didn’t get picked for Republican VP today may be a lucky Republican.” – GOP Strategist Alex Castellanos (in charge of media for Romney campaign)

“Makes him the most lethal and remarkable Democratic figure since John F Kennedy. … If the Rove Republicans thought they were playing with a patsy, they just got a reality check. He took every assault on him and turned them around. He showed not just that he understood the experience of many middle class Americans, but that he understood how the Republicans have succeeded in smearing him. And he didn’t shrink from the personal charges; he rebutted them.” – Andrew Sullivan

“John McCain has his work cut out for him.” – email to Politico site from a “diehard Republican”

“Senator Obama, this is truly a good day for America. Too often the achievements of our opponents go unnoticed. So I wanted to stop and say, congratulations. How perfect that your nomination would come on this historic day. Tomorrow, we’ll be back at it. But tonight, senator, job well done.” – John McCain

(Meanwhile, Mother Nature’s reaction seems to be to send a tropical storm that might postpone the GOP convention).

Dick Locher
© Dick Locher

Share

Howard Dean on the Daily Show

Who knew Chairman Dean had such a good, and dead-pan, sense of humor?

Share

Late Night Political Humor

“Well the great thing about the Olympics, of course, is you have people who are otherwise enemies putting aside their differences and pretending to get along for a couple of days. I’m sorry, that’s the Democratic convention.” -Jay Leno

“And as you know, Barack Obama has chosen Delaware Senator Joseph Biden as his running mate. Well, Biden has 35 years of experience in Washington. So between the two of them, that’s almost 36 years of experience.” -Jay Leno

“And Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi in her speech, praised Joe Biden, calling him the ‘full package,’ that’s what she called him, that’s the actual term she used, she called him the ‘full package.’ Now he’s getting phone calls from Senator Larry Craig.” -Jay Leno

“Michelle Obama said she’s been in love with Barack ever since he took her on their first date and bought her ice cream. Isn’t that sweet? Yeah, meanwhile, John McCain’s wife Cindy says she’s been in love with McCain ever since he hit her over the head with a club and dragged her back to his cave.” -Conan O’Brien

“This is a weird story. At the Democratic Convention, Trojan Condoms has set up a pavilion where they’re handing out thousands of free condoms. Yeah, apparently they’re doing this in case John Edwards shows up.” -Conan O’Brien

“Hillary gave a rousing speech, it was so passionate, emotional, I’m telling you, Nancy Pelosi’s face almost moved.” -David Letterman

“And Barack Obama will give his big speech tomorrow night at Invesco Field, a football stadium, which is appropriate, considering how many times Democrats have fumbled in the past few years.” -Jay Leno

“During the Democratic convention, this is true, delegates are being warned this year not to drink too much. They’re being told not to drink too much, yeah. Yeah when asked why, Democratic officials said the last time we got drunk at a convention, we ended up nominating Walter Mondale.” -Conan O’Brien

“Well, as you know, the Democratic Convention is being held this week at the Pepsi Center in Denver. Don’t confuse that with John McCain’s convention next week, that’s at the Polygrip Center, that’s totally different.” -Jay Leno

“Nation, today is the 88th anniversary of the 19th Amendment, which gave women the right to vote. So, big surprise, tonight the Democrats chose to have Senator Hillary Clinton to give a speech. Now I love women, in fact, some of my best parents are women. But marking this anniversary is the most blatant pandering to female voters since the creation of female voters. You know, however long ago that happened. It is not the only anniversary the Democrats are exploiting this week. Thursday night, Barack Obama will honor the 45th anniversary of Martin Luther King’s ‘I Have A Dream’ speech, and all Democrats will honor the 25th anniversary of John McCain’s 1983 vote against Martin Luther King Day.” -Stephen Colbert

“Folks, I just think this is typical of the Democrats: catering to black and female voters while ignoring the anniversaries that are significant to everyday Americans. For instance, tomorrow, August 27th, happens to be the anniversary of the Visigoths’ sack of Rome in 410 A.D., where Olerick the 1st gave his inspirational ‘I Have A Dream Of Putting Your Head On A Spike’ speech. And, Thursday, August 28th, is the 101st anniversary of UPS. What’d the Democrats do? Nothing. You just lost the ‘Brown States,’ Pelosi. And today, August 26th, is the 29th wedding anniversary of Sam and Lori Doven of Miami, Florida. That’s a swing state. If you’re not going to honor them, at least call them a little more often, they miss you. Plus, tomorrow is the one-day anniversary of Hillary Clinton’s landmark speech tonight. She’s not even being asked to speak. That’s a core constituency whose needs the Democrats will not have addressed in almost 24 hours” -Stephen Colbert

“Coming to work today, I see this guy selling maps to the stars’ homes, right next to him, a guy selling maps to John McCain’s homes. That’s a big thing now.” -Jay Leno

“Here’s a little political fact. Dick Cheney is the first Vice President in eighty years not to run for president. Actually, Cheney did consider four more years, but his doctor only gave him two-and-a-half.” -Jay Leno

“And Florida finally starting to dry out from Tropical Storm Fay. President Bush declared some counties disaster areas so they could get federal assistance. Once again, see, I think Bush means well, I don’t think he really understands. Like today, he said it was important to help them down there cause he considers Florida one of our most important allies. For when we fight the Georgians, we’re gonna need the Floridians.” -Jay Leno

“Barack Obama’s freshly-minted running mate, Sen. Joe Biden, also spoke tonight, and I have to say, after all the name-related problems this campaign has had, why Obama would pick a vice president with the last name ‘Biden’ is beyond me. Not that there’s anything wrong with the name of Biden, but Obama-Biden, it’s like they’re trying to make their ticket sound as much like Osama Bin Laden as possible. They found the two guys in America whose names match up most closely with the person we hate more than anyone in the world, and they put them on the bumper stickers, very good thinking.” -Jimmy Kimmel

Share

Overplaying Cards

Mike Luckovich
© Mike Luckovich

How long has McCain been playing the POW card? In his first run for Congress (almost 30 years ago) McCain was attacked by his opponent as being a “Johnny-come-lately” because McCain had recently moved to Arizona. McCain’s response:

I wish I could have had the luxury, like you, of growing up and living and spending my entire life in a nice place like the first district of Arizona, but I was doing other things. As a matter of fact, when I think about it now, the place I lived longest in my life was Hanoi.

How long can you milk something before the milk turns sour?

Share

Subliminal advertising at its worst

A new McCain campaign attack ad shows lots of images of Obama, but for some unexplained reason has an ominous  “dark shadow” hanging over him. That’s bad enough, but the real killer is that this same strange shadow is used in an image where Obama is standing in front of a crowd holding up the letters that spell C H A N G E. Except that the dark shadow is obscuring the first and last letters:

HANG

All I can say is that in politics and advertising, nothing is done by mistake.

And this ignores that McCain’s claim that Obama wants to raise your taxes is a lie.

See the ad here.

Share

Damn Kid reporters, get off my lawn!

It looks like grumpy old man McCain is finally turning his anger at one of his last best friends — the media.

It has been widely reported that his campaign clamped down — hard — on McCain’s famous marathon media sessions in July, virtually eliminating his open-ended question time with reporters. And when he did talk to reporters they made him stick to his talking points (which, these days, is mostly talking trash about Obama).

But nobody expected the Spanish Inquisition, least of all Time Magazine. In an interview they published today, McCain is sour, prickly, and at times abrasive. When given an opportunity to talk about honor, McCain tells them to “Read it in my books.” When asked about how his campaign has changed, McCain says “I don’t know what you’re talking about.” And when asked what it is like to have two sons currently in the military, McCain snaps “We don’t discuss our sons.”

Finally, an exasperated interviewer asks McCain (with a laugh) “Do I know you?”

Share

Do Dem conventioneers dance like Republicans?

Share

What’s your favorite Stupid Campaign Season Distraction?

Tom Tomorrow
© Tom Tomorrow

There is nothing that excites the media more than the smell of blood, so much so they will create imaginary fights. Here’s a few Stupid Campaign Season Distractions I’ve noticed in the last day or two:

  • Supposedly former Clinton supporters who are voting for McCain (even when just a little research will show that many of them were never actually Clinton supporters).
  • Whether or not Hillary Clinton supported Obama “enough” in her speech last night (they desperately miss being able to cover the Obama v. Clinton primary “fight”)
  • Whether the Democrats will take off the gloves and start attacking Republicans (after all, that’s the only way they will give the Dems any attention).
  • Whether or not a particular person is “patriotic enough” (e.g., flag pins, Michelle Obama, etc.)

What’s your favorite Stupid Campaign Season Distraction? Post it in the comments.

Share

Love – Hate Relationship

Tom Toles
© Tom Toles

Share

Romney says McCain earned his homes, Obama didn’t

Every once in a while you see a story that expands the boundaries of hypocrisy. Today, former governor Mitt Romney claimed that McCain deserved his many houses because of “hard work”, but that Obama “got a special deal from a convicted felon”.

First of all, this “hard work” would be what? Having an affair with a young heiress when your first wife becomes an amputee? Getting a new marriage license when you are still married because you can’t wait to spend her money (which she mainly inherited from her daddy, a convicted felon who got his start as a bootlegger)?  Is Romney saying that marrying Cindy was work? Does that make McCain a gigolo?

Or am I missing the point, and this is yet another reference to McCain’s stay in the Hanoi Hilton?

Second of all, Rezko was NOT a convicted felon when Obama bought a small piece of land from Rezko’s wife, and there was no special deal — Obama paid above the appraised value for the land. And Obama was never even suspected of any wrongdoing in this case.

And speaking of convicted felons, here’s a list of prominent ones that have been hired by the Bush Administration and put in positions of power.

And finally, the whole point of the story about McCain’s houses is not that he has a lot of homes, but that he can’t even remember how many he has. Nor can he remember what kind of car he drives (a Cadillac). When many people are struggling to keep a single home, McCain is so out of touch he doesn’t even know how many homes he has.

But the final, extra hypocritical touch was Romney adding that “The truth is the first casualty of the new politics practiced by the Obama campaign.”

Share